Search - Taste :: Live at the Isle of Wight

Rory and Robin show Jimi the door .....

Mr. Thomas Thatcher | Salisbury, UK | 04/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You all know the score by now - fewer and fewer people are challenging the opinion that Rory Gallagher was perhaps the finest, most fiery and most consistent guitarist of the last 50 years and, thank God, he left lots and lots of proof.



Just before going on stage for the Isle of Wight set, Taste had their gear stolen and so had to play on borrowed kit - and just look what they achieved. Rory manages to produce bursts of speed and fire on the old Strat without ever entering the dreaded realms of widdly woo inhabited by such as Van Halen, Satriani and the whole ghastly lot of them, however good they may be technically.



What's Going on?, the opener for On the Boards (buy NOW), just steams and roars with the whole band's interlocked ability. Sinner Boy has the most staggering slide solo and Feel So Good has the most wonderful intro and outro - and Rory is at double speed on this. Catfish, by then their show stopper, is a true show stopper: but the whole set is really really good and full of class. McCraken on bass and John Wilson on kit are very good and often underestimated. They push Rory on and challenge him to new heights.



I know a lot of folk who went to this festival and they all talked with awe in their voices about Taste and Procol Harum, with Robbie Trower at that stage. They all agreed, too, that Hendrix was, sadly as often, out of tune, out of time, horribly stoned and uninspiring. Legend and fond memory has changed this view, but I saw Rory make Hendrix look very small at the Woburn Abbey festival in 68,with a pretty grim bass and drummer, so I believe it. Hendrix' live recordings are mostly quite unlistenable, Rory's are almost all fantastic. I think that posterity may have made the biggest error of all time in putting Hendrix on a pedestal and forgetting Rory G. He wouldn't have thought so, of course - far too modest and self effacing.



This is a very good and very exciting performance. Just remind yourself, or learn for the first time, who was the real blues guitarist and singer of the 60s and 70s. Yes indeed - and great vocals too. Remember also that these were young kids, all younger than the memnbers of, say, Fall Out Boy. There's a lesson there somewhere about "progress" .....



Indispensible - to redress the balance a little about who "got" the blues from the outset.

"

Raw sound from 1970

Victor Huryk | Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada | 12/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A unique blues sound out of Ireland.Fronted by blues legend Rory Gallagher, this live recording captures the spirit of the Isle Of Wight Festival (Hendrix played the same festival).
Complete with feedback and a snare drum that rattles with the bass lines. Good road music !"

Jimi Who?

FRANKIE GRIFFIN | Cork City,Ireland | 06/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Briefly.This was the day Rory Gallagher upstaged Jimi Hendrix.Rorys first band Taste blew Hendrix away this day on the isle of man.Great album,sound quality is poor."